We would like to wish each and everyone reading this a Happy New Year! As you may have noticed, we have been pretty absent since November. This absence was partly by design and mostly because life has been kicking our butts.

No excuses, we need to be better. We want to be and we will be. Not just for our readers, but for us. We started this blog in the spring of 2015 as a project to work on as a couple. It’s a spot where we put down or thoughts, list out goals, talk about our struggles and mostly keep it real.

I wish we had some grand plan for 2017, but we don’t. What we do know is that we will both be members of the SLS3 Racing Team for 2017, we will be hosting our third charitable 5k in June and representing Autism Speaks at this year’s 40th Chicago Marathon in October.

The rest of our race calendar for 2017 is nearly finished. You can check out the race calendar page to see which races we’ll be attending throughout the year.

As always there are going to be some challenges ahead- Travis will be undergoing surgery at the end of March. Barring any unforeseen complications he should fully recovered and ready to go for Chicago training.

Also, we are eagerly awaiting the end of the month when we get to take our first vacation sans kids in over five years. We love our kiddos, but Mom and Dad need a quick recharge! We’re headed to the sunny Dominican Republic for a week with some good friends. We’ve got some fun excursions planned like snorkeling and zip lining. Can’t wait!

Over the last couple of weeks not only did we celebrate Christmas and New Years, but both of our kids birthdays as well! Parker turned five this year and Peyton turned two. We’re having a party for them this coming weekend, but here’s some photos from their birthday celebrations at home. With having birthdays only a day a part, we make sure that each child gets their own celebration. For Parker we had a pizza picnic on the floor and Peyton was turned into a princess for the day complete with nails and a ball gown.

We are very much looking forward to what 2017 has to bring, and hope to connect with you all very soon!